Early last month we heard that HTC’s focus for 2012 would be more on quality than quantity. While HTC delivered impressive numbers throughout most of 2011, it became obvious that HTC had spread itself too thin later in the year with the number of different handsets the company pushed out.

Before this news was simply a rumor, but we now have some direct quotes from HTC’s lead man in the UK, Phil Roberson, that give us a little more insight into HTC’s plans for 2012. Phil Roberson recently spoke with Mobile Magazine, admitting that HTC will be trimming back on the number of new devices introduced in 2012 to focus more on a ‘hero’ approach.

We have to get back to focusing on what made us great — amazing hardware and a great customer experience. We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much.

So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of different SKUs.Phil RobersonHTC

In 2012, HTC will also be putting tablets on the back burner. Roberson stressed that HTC would not be getting out of the tablet market completely, but HTC does want to make sure that the company’s focus is centered around smartphones.

HTC produced several outstanding handsets in 2011, but the majoroty of our time was spent reporting on phones like the HTC Rhyme, Status, Salsa and many other mid to low-end handsets that didn’t really capture the essence of what we have come to expect from HTC.

Do you think HTC can drown out the noise in 2012 and live up to its “quietly brilliant” slogan again?

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uknowme

I still have faith they can come back strong. I haven’t been disappointed by them yet. Of course I have only picked up the flagship phones from Sprint, the Evo 4G and the Evo 3D. I’m really hoping they get the opportunity to create the next Nexus. I have only heard great things about the original.

http://www.brokemanstech.com Juan

I lost a lot of faith in HTC after the EVO 4G. I felt the build quality wasn’t there and they didn’t produce the best possible phone they could with the technology and hardware available to them.

I do, however, wish them the best and I hope they release some new amazing devices. They used to be my favorite manufacturer but that title now belongs to Samsung. Hopefully, HTC will one day be able to win me back.

yankeesusa

Dont know what your talking about. The build on that phone was great and the first of its kind with the big screen. Not only that but it was once of the highest selling phones on the market at that time. But you are entitled to your opinions though. Either way htc has made great phones and I’m glad that they are scaling back and not becoming like motorola where they flood the market with a bunch of phones. I can’t wait for an lte htc phone for sprint.

chris0101

Spoken like a true fanboy. The Evo 4G copied the form factor used in the HD2. The Snapdragon CPU was arguably not the fastest in its era; significantly outperformed by the international Galaxy S i9000, which was released internationally before it’s American release. The Hummingbird with the SGX 540 was a better CPU and much better GPU than the Snapdragon.

honourbound68

I was a Sammy fan but no longer. I’m on my 2nd epic 4g. I’ve had gps issues, loss of signal bugs (still), and random restarts (still). If you search sprint forums you’ll find the problem run across different models. I’m hoping the nexus isn’t having any of these issues because it’s the only Sammy phone I’ll ever consider buying again.

AA

Hope they focus on the battery life too. They use the puniest battetries of all the manufactureres.

romy134

Hmmm well I guess I can still get Asus Tablet, but I still love HTC phones, just gotta do something with the batteries!!

Hall Lo

HTC sure can make great impressive phones :) And its good to know that they are focusing on the quality more, so even better phones! I really hope that it won’t disappoint us, but give us some really nice looking phones with excellent specs!

lancaster09

Sure they can!!! You should always target multiple markets, low-end, mid, and high but congestion can be a problem as well. I am pretty sure my next device will be an HTC product. Hardware is what can set you apart from your competition.

delinear

They just need to hold back on the churn – it doesn’t help when potential customers are waiting for the next big thing and new customers feel outdated a month after buying their phone. A focus on quality and getting updates out quickly for existing customers will help.

Mark

All they need to do is continue the G-series by making a G3 with stock Android and a keyboard and I’ll be happy.

Paul

Been using HTC Since the Cingular 8125, aka HTC Wizard. Back in that day they only had 2 or 3 handsets out and it was very easy to determine which one you wanted. Hope they do the same again. I’ve used 3 different HTC Windows Mobile phones (custom ROM’s, hacked, enhanced, etc.) and then I switched to 3 different HTC Android phones before I am where I am now, using my first non HTC phone, the Samsung Galaxy S II.

redraider133

I think this is great to scale back and hopefully focus on faster and better updates.

http://www.focuszonedevelopment.com Homncruse

How many variations of the Sensation did they make anyway? I seriously thought about getting one, but with so many submodels, I got confused and rage-quit.

delinear

Loved my HTC Desire – my first taste of Android and so good I stuck with it for another 6 months after my contract was up. HTC are still huge even if growth has slowed, they need to use their size and market position to put out some top quality handsets.

spazby

Give me one superb quality device per carrier per year and I will be happy

Nathan D.

Well it is nice to hear that they are going to make better phone then they already have. Instead of small little upgrades to their devices over time.

aranea

This is good news. Fewer phones and tablets means better support and better design.